Tescomate 55 [silver reed DWS]

User avatar
zrrion

14 Sep 2023, 08:18

Another day another Silver Reed find, this time one that appears to be a rebrand. I say "appears" because I can't actually find a silver reed version of this machine. from the PCB inside is appears to be related to the EXD10 but while those are very similar, with the chassis being essentially identical, those have a completely different keyboard.

Image
It is a very nice looking machine, and the layout is very nice as well. Not a lot weird going on here for a machine of this sort beyond maybe the stepping that is done to avoid having to stabilize anything and the TAB key being placed on the right hand side of the alpha block. If this thing worked I imagine it would be a perfectly cromulent portable typewriter.

Image
While it might not be immediately obvious, the bottom row of keys is not a full 1u tall, closer to something like 3/4u tall. this saves basically no space but on the bottom row it doesn't really matter much that the caps are a smidge short. The red of the code key is also slightly transparent and you can just barely make out the white shot through the red.

Image
The previous owner taped on these little bits of paper for helping with touch typing presumably. Was kind of annoying to get off.
Image
here we have a cap from an EX30 for comparison.
Image
Left to right, code key, EX30 5 key, Tescomate 55 % key. Note that because of the shorter height of the code key and all other R5 keys on this machine have a stem that is slightly smaller and is not compatible with the other caps.

Image
Image
Image
PCB clearly says EXD10, but this for sure isn't an EXD10. Presumably the only difference between an EXD10 and this (an EXD55 maybe? or EXD15? who knows) is the keyboard and everything else is reused between the 2 machines.

EDIT: this advertisement shows the EXD10 and the EX43 as for sale at the same time, which is weird. I was assuming that the EXD10 would be younger than the EX4* line, it is possible it was updated with a better keyboard around the same time that Silver Reed started using DIN-compliant switches in all their typewriters. This is really just speculation on my part though. The most astounding thing to me is that the chiclet keys the EXD10 used apparently didn't effect sales overmuch as I can find a lot of pictures and whatnot about that flavor of the machine but the version with a better keyboard is much harder to track down despite being just a better version of the EXD10.
Image
Image
unfortunately no branding on the membranes so the manufacturer remains unknown. I'm honestly starting to think Silver reed made these in house and the XT board I found a while back that uses DWS switches that have roughly compatible caps was a fluke.

Image
Like, the older style mitsumi latching switches (IIRC it's a mitsumi KBH switch) from a C64 has a compatible mount, and mitsumi for sure didn't make these (although the Silver Reed EP10 does use mitsumi switches funny enough) so a compatible mount doesn't necessarily mean anything. The pre-din Silver Reed dome switches are compatible with cruciform mount Alps caps but I don't think saying they were made by Alps would be reasonable and the same applies with these circle-mount switches as well.

All that aside, the machine I have doesn't work, it powers on, the print mechanism moves a bit, the machine beeps, and then nothing else happens. The keyboard is simply ignored by the machine and nothing I press does anything. So even though I'm sure this thing would be just fine to use I can't really comment on that. Maybe I can get a working EXD10 and swap this keyboard onto it eventually to see what's what. For now I can just echo what I said about these switches in the EZ43 thread, they're nice enough domes, they don't bottom out on the dome itself, but with on the slider legs so they're not mushy. I like the switches in the EX30 much better however. If this machine had the same switches as the EX30 then I would probably get it converted to USB pretty quickly. As it stands now though they're just nice domes with cool caps and a funny bottom row.
Last edited by zrrion on 14 Sep 2023, 08:37, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
zrrion

14 Sep 2023, 08:24

Speaking more broadly about Silver Reed dome switches, I think I should lay out the naming convention I have for them since that makes talking about them easier. Currently I am aware of 4 types, 5 if we count the slightly smaller sliders that the R5 caps on this machine use. I don't think the smaller sliders are enough to distinguish them as a separate type though, maybe if these were discrete switches but since they're communal it's not as meaningful a distinction IMO.
  • Silver Reed Peerless Type 1
    • discrete switches
    • multi-part slider
    • bottom out when the cap hits the top housing
    • pre-DIN, they are a tall switch
    • cruciform mount sliders
    • They can be seen on the M44, the EX44, the VTW-100, and likely also on other unidentified machines/boards
    • Shortened to SRPL1
  • Silver Reed Peerless Type 2
    • non-discrete switches
    • similar multi-part slider to Type 1 but with legs on the slider to ensure bottom out happens before the cap hits the housing
    • pre-DIN, they are a tall switch
    • cruciform mount sliders
    • They can be seen on the EX200 and likely also on other unidentified machines/boards
    • Shortened to SRPL2
  • Silver Reed Peerless Type 3
    • non-discrete switches
    • multi-part slider with legs on the slider to ensure bottom out happens before the cap hits the housing
    • DIN-compliant, they are a short switch
    • Topre-like circular mount. Not compatible with Topre or Brother switches/keycaps
    • They can be seen on the EX30 and likely also on other unidentified machines/boards
    • Shortened to SRPL3
  • Silver Reed Dome with Slider
    • non-discrete switches
    • single-part slider with legs on the slider to ensure bottom out happens before the cap hits the housing
    • DIN-compliant, they are a short switch
    • same mount as SRPL3
    • They can be seen on the EZ43, the Tescomate55, and likely also on other unidentified machines/boards
    • Shortened to SRDWS
    Of these switches, any of the SRPL* types are worth trying IME,. Peerless switches generally are honestly, having a spring and a pusher instead of just a single-part slider does something to domes that makes them more interesting. SRDWS is nice and I wouldn't be upset to use a machine with those switches but I'm not chomping at the bit to get either of my SRDWS boards converted.

User avatar
zrrion

22 Sep 2023, 19:55

Searching for a Silver Reed version of this machine continues, I've ruled out EXD15 as a possible model number as that machine is completely different in every way and uses pre-DIN switches. EXD might have been the "portable" line alongside the EX line of non portable machines? EXD10 being their tiny machine and EXD15 being a more expensive but larger model I guess. The EB50 is a similar form factor but that's a portable plotter, not a typewriter.

I did search through some of the silver reed documentation I have but it's all for specific machines, for different daisyheels (which this doesn't have), or is general printer/office supply catalogues so nothing really came from that.

So, a few things have been ruled out but nothing has been confirmed.

Whadrect77

02 Nov 2023, 10:31

Nice info!

Post Reply

Return to “Gallery”